Our Work

Before & After Names

Names in a Nutshell

Does Your Name Suck?

Choosing a Naming Firm

Blog

Dream Jobs

FAQ

Book a Meeting

Posted by admin on March 23, 2009

A newspaper in South Santa Clara, California has created a web design company called ISOARS. Ouch. What’s really a shame is they actually have some nice looking web design and a playful personality. But their name is an eye sore and no one wants to have a site that makes their eyes hurt. I mean really, who wants to say their website was designed by what sounds exactly like “Eye Sores”?

It gets worse.ISOARS created a digital coupon service with an even more cringe-worthy name: I don’t know where to begin with Mo-Quepons. It violates the most important rules of naming. It’s hard to spell, pronounce, and downright annoying. And what’s with the hyphen? You mean to tell me that www.moquepons.com was taken?!

Please guys, you need to spend mo’ time evaluating names and less time thinking you hit the naming jackpot because the domain was available on GoDaddy for $9.95. That is not a good reason to choose a name. We suggest using the Eat My Words SMILE & SCRATCH Test (as seen in The Wall Street Journal), which is based on our philosophy that a name should make you smile, instead of scratch your head.SMILE – thequalities of a powerful name:Simple – one easy-to-understand conceptMeaningful – your customers instantly “get it”Imagery – visually evocative – creates a mental pictureLegs – carries the brand, lends itself to wordplayEmotional – e.g. empowers, entertains, engages, enlightensSCRATCH it off the list if it has any of these deal-breakers:Spelling-challenged – you have to tell people how to spell itCopycat – similar to competitor’s namesRandom – disconnected from the brandAnnoying – hidden meaning, forcedTame – flat, uninspired, boring, non-emotionalCurse of Knowledge – only insiders get itHard-to-pronounce – not obvious, relies on punctuation—If you’d like to see some great names that past the test, check out the names created by Eat My Words – now these are a site for sore eyes! —Thanks to my NSA ProTrack buddy Jim Carrillo for tipping me off to theses two doozies…